Why carbon offsets are worse than you think | The Going Green Podcast, E...

A carbon offset broadly refers to a reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions – or an increase in carbon storage (e.g., through land restoration or the planting of trees) – that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere. For a Carbon offset to work, we first need to measure and establish how much greenhouse gas emissions that you emit personally or on a organisational level. Once steps have been taken to reduce these, you are then allowed to pay money to offset any emissions that you cannot reduce. for doing this you receive a Credit/coin/certificate that you have offset those emotions and are now Carbon neutral or Net Zero.

HOWEVER, if you haven't reduced before you've offset - which quite a lot of companies have done - then all that's happening is your greenwashing everything!